Panama Joins U.n. Council

Compromise Ends Standoff Over Regional Seat.

November 8, 2006|By Maggie Farley Los Angeles Times

UNITED NATIONS — Panama won a two-year term to the Security Council on Tuesday, making the powerful body's composition for 2007 less contrarian than U.S. officials had feared had Venezuela won the Latin American seat.

The new council still will include voices that could challenge the United States, such as South Africa, a leader of developing nations.

Panama emerged last week as the compromise candidate to fill the regional seat, ending a standoff between U.S.-backed Guatemala and Venezuela, a critic of Washington's policies. Panama received 164 votes in the 48th round of voting in the General Assembly.

Venezuela had portrayed itself as a challenger to U.S. dominance at the United Nations and a champion of developing nations. But it lost backing after its leader, Hugo Chavez, called President Bush "the devil" and decried the world body as "useless" in a speech at the United Nations in September.

U.S. lobbying on behalf of Guatemala, however, cost that country some support, say diplomats. Neither Latin American nation could garner the two-thirds majority among the 192 U.N. members needed to be elected, leading them to withdraw in favor of Panama.

Panama will take the seat on Jan. 1, as one of five new temporary members of the Security Council. The others, in addition to South Africa, are Belgium, Indonesia and Italy. Five countries that will serve one more year in the rotating council seat are Congo, Ghana, Peru, Qatar and Slovakia.

There are five permanent members of the Security Council: the United States, Britain, China, France and Russia. They have veto power and compete for the support of rotating members during disagreements.